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Math is Fun!

Math is all around us and we use it every day, often, without even realizing it. Having a solid foundation in math is critical for success, and helps to enhance the development of global competencies including communication, collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, and global citizenship.

At the TDSB, we are committed to supporting students as they develop valuable math skills and want to help them become active participants in their learning. Finding new and innovative ways to connect with students and make learning fun is key to success. It’s important to use a variety of resources and technologies that actively engage students, and assist them with making real-life connections with mathematics.

Some Recent Changes

Recently, the Ministry of Education announced a greater focus on helping students move forward in their number sense development across the curriculum. Although the Renewed Math Strategy has been replaced with Focusing on Fundamental Mathematics, it is important to note that the mathematics curriculum is still the same. For the 2018/2019 school year, TDSB teachers of Grades 1-8, will continue to implement The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Mathematics, 2005.

Also recently released were two documents - The Fundamentals of Math: A Teacher’s Guide, and A Parent’s Guide to the Fundamentals of Math – Grades 1 to 8, both available on the Ministry site.

Improving Student Success in Mathematics

Over the years, TDSB teachers have continually built on strategies that develop and integrate strong number sense across the curriculum. Our instructional approach,

“is based on the belief that students learn mathematics most effectively when they are given opportunities to investigate ideas and concepts through problem solving and are then guided carefully into an understanding of the mathematical principles involved. At the same time, it promotes a balanced program in mathematics. The acquisition of operational skills remains an important focus of the curriculum.” – The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 1-8: Mathematics, 2005, page 4.

Our focus on balanced mathematics instruction while helping all students to move forward in their number sense development will continue, in addition to our focus on mathematics instruction that is effective and aligns with the principles of inclusive design. We will do this in part by continuing to enhance our capacity to: examine patterns of student success; implement effective interventions to barriers to access; respond to student voice; design instruction that is authentic and reflects the lived realities of our diverse students; engage families; and build leadership and instructional capacity by selecting from a range of appropriate interventions such as:

Balanced Mathematics Instruction

Use a three-part lesson framework to build conceptual and procedural understanding

Provide multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate their thinking and practice their skills

Use a variety of learning tools and materials

Incorporate appropriate technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics

Embed the seven mathematical processes (problem solving, reasoning and proving, reflecting, selecting tools and computational strategies, connecting and representing, and communicating) in the learning of mathematics

Integrate mental math strategies that enable students to think about mathematical relationships beyond the memorization of facts

Include a balance of instructional methods including play, exploration, investigation, direct instruction, and practice

Student Voice & Engagement

Teach through problem solving and inquiry

Engage students in mathematics experiences that are culturally responsive, relevant, and meaningful

Use student work and narrative to develop mathematical understanding and procedural fluency

Build safe and inclusive environments where risk taking, mistakes are part of the learning and student voice is valued and prominent

Use open questions, spiralling and parallel tasks to provide multiple entry points

Assessment & Evaluation

Provide ongoing and multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate the full range of their learning

Differentiate assessment and evaluation so that it is fair, transparent and equitable

Collect evidence of student achievement for evaluation over time from 3 different sources: observations, conversations and student products

Use assessment to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help students monitor their progress towards achieving their learning goals

Provide ongoing descriptive feedback that is clear, specific, meaningful and timely to support improved learning and achievement

Use practices that are intentionally planned to relate to the curriculum expectations and learning goals

Share learning goals and co-construct success criteria with students

Develop students’ self-assessment skills to enable them to assess their own learning, set specific goals, and plan next steps for their learning

Use TDSB approved diagnostic tools to determine student strengths and areas of need and to inform programming

Transdisciplinary Approaches

Use contexts from other subject disciplines to show connections in content

Promote a positive disposition towards mathematics in all disciplines

Make mathematics and numeracy connections explicit across disciplines

Provide opportunities for students to investigate, inquire about and use mathematics across various disciplines (STEM)

K-12 Facilitation Guide for Professional Learning in Mathematics – WORKING DOCUMENT Last Updated: 01 December 2014

At the TDSB, we value a strong partnership of students, staff, family and community, and will continue to collaborate towards attainment of the goals of our Multi-Year Strategic Plan, including high levels of success for all students in mathematics.

To enable all students to reach high levels of achievement and well-being and to acquire the knowledge, skills and values they need to become responsible, contributing members of a democratic and sustainable society.